Mixed Plate: Keeping the Holidays Merry, Bright and on a Massive Sugar High

The decorative lights are aglow. The tree is festooned with the sparkling baubles of a seasonal gala. It makes one want to draw loved ones near and sing the Christmas carols of olde, such as: Jingle bells/Batman smells/Robin laid an egg/the Batmobile lost its wheel/and Joker got a-waaaaaaaaay....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...cookies - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Oh, come on, like you totally didn't irritate your chorus teacher by swapping out the lyrics for every Christmas pageant. What, no chorus class? Not even a glee club...? Well, they probably don't even call it "Christmas pageants" anymore either. It's all holiday-this and nondenominational-seasonal-celebration-that. Not that I'm a regular visitor to God's house every Sunday. I think I'd probably go up in flames were I to step through the doorway of a church, or at least recoil in a sinister fit of hissing. But that doesn't mean I don't love Christmas, dammit.

I like the holidays because it's the one time of year from November on (and sometimes from October, if we're going by the retail calendar), where you feel the karmic tally coming due, and you have to make good on the friendly smiles to strangers, taking the extra effort to wish people well on their day, and taking time to remember the people who mean the most to you. You don't do this because you're concerned Santa will swap out that pony you've been asking for with a big lump of coal -- you make the extra effort to remind yourself that this state of mind can be a reality, and that it's never too late to live kindly. It makes other people feel good. It makes you feel good. And it feels possible that the old adage of keeping a heart full of goodwill doesn't have to be only one time of the year. At least until you jump on the scales after that second quart of eggnog and decide, oh eff it, I'm wearing grubby sweats and not leaving the house for two months.

Apologies in advance to dentists everywhere - Photos by Wasabi Prime

This Christmas, I set about to doing the usual rounds of baking like a crazy mofo. I think participating in the fundraiser, Will Bake For Food, back in November was a great Spring Training for getting my holiday game face on. It adequately honed my Eye of the Baking Tiger. Don't worry, I didn't bake any tigers. What I did manage to make were several batches of sugar cookies, some regular and some with cocoa powder. They were all iced and sugared with little decorative flourishes, packaged into cellophane bags tied with ribbon and unceremoniously shoved into a dozen Priority Mail boxes and shipped off to exotic places like Honolulu, Hilo, and Colfax. I also made a few batches of buttermilk pumpkin scones. I defrosted more of that massive supply of roasted pumpkin from Thanksgiving and managed to find a recipe that was both festive and manages to curb my craving for Starbucks pumpkin scones. I used this recipe from Epicurious -- everything minus the glaze, because I needed the scones to be mailing-friendly and a sticky gooey glaze wouldn't travel well. So if you do use this recipe sans-glaze, bump up the sugar amount to 3/4 to a whole cup, depending on how sweet you like your scones. The spice content of the scones are dy-no-MITE, in a totally good way, so don't skimp on the recipe's calling for such a large amount of ginger and cinnamon.

Have a scone, Santa, Baby - Photo by Wasabi Prime

So, I'll just leave you with my random sugar-addled thoughts on Christmas, the holidays as a whole, and wish everyone the best as we enter into the home stretch of holly-jolly merriment. Eat, drink, be merry and be safe this Christmas weekend! (And don't shoot your eye out)

UnRecipe: Family Time with the Prime

A while back, we played host to Mr. Wasabi's visiting brother, sister-in-law, and little girl, the Adorable Miss A. They stayed with us for a weekend for a cousin's wedding in Snohomish, which was on a perfect summer weekend. Whenever one has guests, I think everyone knows that need for preparedness, so the Prime got busy and made several things in anticipation for the visit.

Magical Animal sandwiches for dinner - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Getting several meals prepared in advance for an unknown schedule, for several people, can be a bit of a challenge. I didn't want to make anything fussy or fancy, just easy-going comfort foods that were crowd pleasers and were mindful of dietary needs. Mr. Wasabi's brother has some food allergies, so I had to be mindful of certain ingredients, peanuts being one of them. Usually when I'm trying to plan a menu for a busy weekend, these parameters come to mind: quickness to prepare and keeps well in the fridge or an airtight container. Maybe it's my crazy Wasabi-planner mind, but I had a list of things I was going to make ahead of time, and they included the following: barbecue pork shoulder sandwiches with cole slaw, fixings for green salads, blueberry scones for breakfast, fresh fruit, plenty of pre-roasted coffee, iced tea, and coffee ice cream. Several meals were pre-cooked, ready for assembly or ready to eat, right out of the crisper drawer or a plastic container. Crazy planner? Yes, I am. Blame my being the only child of an engineer.

Spotty blueberry scones for breakfast - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Of course, best-laid plans are often laid to waste, as I think we only dug into the scones, fruit and plenty of coffee, but I'd much rather adhere to the Boy Scout motto of being prepared than scrambling to throw something together from an empty refrigerator and pantry. The wedding weekend proved to be busy with family activities, which was just fine by me, as this meant more leftovers for the following week. I feel like an overabundance of food is a win/win by the Prime's standards, plus it meant barbecue pork sandwiches for several nights. And what's wrong with that?

Peachy jam pot scones from Mr. Wasabi's family - Photo by Wasabi Prime

A nice finish to the very sweet family visit was a gift of peach scone mix and peach preserves from Mr. Wasabi's brother's family. Much thanks to the deliciously thoughtful host gift. I made them the following week, inspired by the jam pots from the Grand Central Baking Book that I received from a thoughtful aunt. I made the scone mix according to the bag, but instead of cutting them into the typical scone shape, I made little round pots and filled them with the preserves before baking. It was a nice way to pre-jam one's scones and made them an easy bring-along later in the week when I met up with some friends for a morning movie. Hooray for a fun family weekend, plenty of leftovers, jam pot scones, and Friday morning movies!

UnRecipe: Carb-o-tronic

I don't have a wheat intolerance, but I'm fairly sure I gave my system the shock of its life a while back when I went on a baking spree. This was actually a while back when the weather was a lot cooler and it actually felt good to keep the oven going, to keep the house feeling cozy. The result were baked goods that include Buttermilk Orange Marmalade Scones and Buttermilk Cinnamon Buns. *Burp* So delicious.

Sconed Love - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The scones had a good, legitimate reason for coming to be on this planet. It was a friend's birthday and I thought it would be nice to give something homemade. It's also the gracious gift-giving solution when one is broke-as-a-joke, but can at least offer useful skills like making baked treats. I included a little jar of butter whipped with the marmalade, to make it that much more citrusy and to guarantee that scurvy will never affect this Birthday Girl. For the scones, I used this Dried Cherry Buttermilk Scones recipe from Gourmet, by way of Epicurious -- minus the dried cherries, and with a few spoonfuls of the orange marmalade. Admittedly, I was the bad baker and just eyeballed the marmalade addition, and then threw in an extra tablespoon of flour or two, to offset the additional liquid. Terrible, terrible, I know. But they came out fine, as I did several taste-tests before giving away the tin of buttery scone goodness to my friend.

You can never buy just the amount of buttermilk you need. You always wind up with extra. There's some Cardinal rule that this will happen, no matter what -- deal with it. So what do you do? Make buttermilk cinnamon rolls, of course. Duh, right?! Aside from one baking shenanigan enabling yet another carby misadventure, it's worth the calories as the house smells amazing when you bake cinnamon rolls. I'm sure using the tee-hee-cannibalistic Pillsbury Doughboy's cylinder of premade dough will make your house smell just as cinnamony-good, but the proof is in the resulting baked treat as you get a more flavorful dough and that made-from-scratch warm fuzzy feeling after doing all the work yourself. I pulled this recipe from my old web-pal AllRecipes.com, using this basic Buttermilk Cinnamon Roll Recipe.

Eat this, Pillsbury Doughboy! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Sure, these Wasabi-made rolls didn't have the bakery-perfect roundish-squarish shape of a proper cinnamon bun. But damn it all if they didn't taste rootin'-tootin' good. I had an excess of marmalade butter, so used that in place of plain butter for the filling, so it made for a more citrusy-flavored center. For the glaze, I used the last bit of buttermilk, making it more tart, like a sweetened goat cheese. That may sound a little gross, but it was quite nice, like a cinnamon, citrus, doughy cheesecake. Overall it was a cinnamon roll that was more flavorful without that overwhelming sugar-sweetness, as most store-bought pastries tend to be. I look forward to cooler temperatures returning later in the year, so that I can revisit this recipe and indulge once again!

Mixed Plate: Tea With Radish and Wasabi

There's something wonderfully civilized about tea. Making it into a little event, complete with a good friend and teeny sandwiches makes it all the more special. Ms. Wasabi did her ladylike best to host a tea lunch with friend and fellow blogger, Ms. Radish and Rosé, and it was a delightful afternoon of sharing funny stories, happy memories, and trading thoughts on living la vida blogger. So raise a delicate cup with pinkie fingers up -- no wiping your face on the sleeve -- it's teatime with Radish and Wasabi... and yo, tuck that shirt in!

Tea and macaroons -- so freakin' charming, it hurts - Photo by Wasabi Prime

One of the greatest luxuries in life isn't in the material world -- no pimpin' houses, blinged-out dentistry, or exotic pets that will most likely attack you out of fatal irony. The most valuable asset is free time, and the luxury to spend it on simple pleasures. Life in a cubicle world definitely moved faster, the steady paycheck was really nice, but it felt like I was spending more money to essentially slow it down so that I could actually enjoy what little free time I had. Situations change, life happens, and the blessings show themselves. This was a nice opportunity to share an afternoon with a friend and to pull out my grandparents' vintage tea and dessert set from Japan that is so sadly underused. Brewing up several pots of Earl Grey tea, we chatted about cookbooks, movies, and all the little joys we were thankful to have.

In honor of Ms. Radish, I made sandwiches of toasted bread smeared with butter and layered with thin slices of radish and salt. Simply delicious and pure French countryside, all the things Ms. Radish loves and writes about in her adorable blog that features all her charming favorite things. Lovely macaroons are one of her favorite things as well, and she was a doll to bring little mini ones in a beautiful painted bowl -- an early and sweet Valentine's Day gift! It's Ms. Radish's most favorite holiday, so if you can, please drop by her blog on the 14th to send her pink heart Valentine wishes!

A bouquet of radishes -- elegant and edible! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Along with butter and radish sandwiches, I made curried egg salad and cucumber sandwiches, because you can't have tea without those things. Don't ask me why, just ask the Queen, because I'm sure she digs them too when she's not chasing after her pack of little Corgi dogs. The combination of the savory crunch of radish and the creamy spice of curried eggs was a delicious pairing. I toasted the bread, but I don't think I'll do that next time because while it holds the shape nicely, it can do a savage number on the roof of one's mouth as you bite into them. Ouch. I think I was concerned that the bread would become too soggy from the ingredients, but the sandwiches were immediately om-nommed, so sogginess is clearly not a factor worth considering the next time I make these. Lesson learned.

Bacon brittle -- come on, you know you want some. Photos by Wasabi Prime

Served alongside the sandwiches were clementines and a special gift from Ms. Radish -- Sir Francis Bacon Peanut Brittle. Yeah, you heard that right -- bacon peanut brittle with a sly nod to Western philosophy! How foodie-pimp is that?? In a word, it's smoky. It doesn't feel like you're biting into a slab of bacon, but it's definitely got that hearty smoked flavor, paired with the caramel brittle. The packaging is brilliant and it comes in the perfect sparing amount, as it's easy for the strong flavor to just overwhelm after a few too many bites. It was a great salty-sweet addition to the sandwiches and fruit because, really, when is bacon a bad idea? Admittedly, Mr. Wasabi thought the flavor was a bit strong for his liking, but I think if the brittle was crushed into smaller bits and sprinkled over a creamy vanilla ice cream, it would balance it out nicely for even the most skeptical of palates. Bacon brittle vanilla milkshakes anyone? Maybe for another post.

I knew those tiered cake stands would come in handy - Photo by Wasabi Prime

We concluded our tea with cranberry orange scones, a gift from another dear friend of ours. Dabbed with a pat of rich, sweet brandy butter, it was the perfect indulgence to go with our last pot of Earl Grey. The whole afternoon was a reminder of how very grateful I am to have a good friend like Ms. Radish -- I knew her before I started Wasabi Prime and she's one of the people I credit as being the encouraging voice who helped inspire this blog's existence. She's been a longtime reader of blogs in general, and would share favorite posts over morning coffee, introducing me to this magical world. This is an open thank-you note to Ms. Radish, for her support, her positive influence, and for her generous and kind soul.

Something to note, her writing has gotten some local attention, as it well-deserves -- you can see her blog, Radish and Rosé, noted on the News section of the Heathman Hotel's Trellis website. It's one of her favorite local spots for breakfast, and she has much love for their freshly-made doughnuts. If you're in the Kirkland area for breakfast at Trellis, tell 'em Radish and Rosé sent you!

UnRecipe: Currant Events

My cousin who lives in Sweden inspired this post, along with all the summer berries that have ripened around us. She told me about the five liters of black currants she picked, and then photographed the delicious scones and jams she made from her impressive harvest. We weren't that fortunate with our own berry gathering, only picking whatever was left of the blackberry brambles throughout Duvall, and small currant-like berries from our own backyard. Our modest berry harvest was used for a colorful Pork Tenderloin and Berry Wine Sauce, served with sauteed Swiss Chard.

Pork tenderloin and Swiss chard in a sweetberrahwine sauce - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Yet another recipe-free adventure in MacGyver Cooking-land, this dish was a good way to use up the quickly-softening berries we picked. We were late to the party for gathering blackberries, so most of the bushes had been om-nommed by either people or animals. Too few to bake with, so a sauce seemed like a good solution. After searing the pork tenderloin, I used the same pan with all the delicious drippings leftover to make a wine reduction sauce. I used a bit of pinot noir and threw in the berries when the liquid was starting to cook down. It made for a richly-colored sauce with a concentrated flavor that went well with the mild pork.

Crazy colors of summer: fresh Swiss chard, red currants, blackberries - Photos by Wasabi Prime

We had two bouquet-like bunches of Swiss chard from the Redmond Farmer's Market. They were in a stunning array of colors -- you didn't know whether to eat it or put it in a vase!
We went with the first option and chopped everything up and wilted them down in a hot pan. Chard has a nice peppery, bitter flavor that tastes amazing with a big chunk of meat, or even something creamy like a fried egg. My only disappointment was not buying more, since two whole bunches cook down to maybe enough for a couple of servings. Talk about shrinkage...

My cousin's currant-rich dishes would have made for a great dessert after the berry-sauced tenderloin and veggie side. I'll just have to be content with her photo of the scones and jam. I hope you're as hungry as I am, looking at the goodies she made!

Treats from afar - fruits of my cousin's labor! Photo by Dawn Yoshimura

* Post Script - Serious thanks go out to Serious Eats' Photograzing for posting pics of the Swiss chard and tenderloin!